SEO Step By Step Guide–27. Dealing with Redirects

There are number situations that would require us to redirect the web pages to a different page. Redirects are nothing but automatic loading of pages without the user requesting that page. The user would have requested a different page or thinks that he will be landing at a specific page but through the use of redirects the user will land in a page which is different from the requested page. We may have to use redirects in a variety of situations. At times the URL or the domain name of a website may change, that is a website may be moved to a different domain altogether. At times two or more websites may be merged demanding a redirect to the right page. If there are no redirects, the browser will result in 404 ‘Page cannot be found.’ error.  It is not good to have too many URL requests ending in 404 pages.

Moreover, when you don’t use redirects when a new site replaces the old one, you will lose your precious traffic and rankings for those keywords. By using appropriate redirects, you will be able to retain your regular traffic and existing ranking for all your important keywords.

Search engines allow two types of redirects namely, 301 and 302 redirects. A 301 redirect will inform the search engine that the change is permanent and the old page is gone for good. You must use 301 redirect or permanent redirects only when you are sure that you will never need to use the old page again. This is best when you move the entire website to a new domain. You may also use this redirect when you are completely redesigning your website and going for more SEO friendly URLs for your website to attract better traffic. I such a scenario, your old pages will be listed in the search results and if you have not used a redirect, people will end up on 404 pages.

The second type of redirect is 302 redirect or temporary redirect. These redirects must be used only when you want to redirect a page temporarily to a different location. After that period, you will be able to remove your 302 redirect and start using the regular page.

You must not interchange these two types of redirects because it can affect your ranking. When you use a 301 redirect when you want to revert to the original page, there is a possibility of losing the ranking of the old pages if the search engine re-indexes your website before you revert your change. Similarly, when you use a 302 redirect when the page is completely moved, it will affect the ranking of the new page. Therefore, decide in advance on how the redirect will work and choose the right type of redirect. The efforts taken in setting both types of redirects is the same but the effect it will have on your website is completely different.

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